Just Maybe
by IzzyFizzy509
Summary: Senior year has just begun, and for Annabeth Chase, the pressure is on. Her mother is bearing down on her about college applications, and her dyslexia is almost making things worse. When she reconnects with past childhood friend, Percy Jackson, maybe, just maybe, things will start to turn around.
1. Chapter 1

"Do you have any questions?"

The pink-haired girl stared lazily at Annabeth. "Nope, think I'm good. Hey, do you know where I can bum a smoke?" She smirked. "Not with you, of course."  
It took all of Annabeth not to rip out the girl's nose ring and tear off brightly colored extensions. It looked like a unicorn barfed on her head.

"Smoking is not permitted." Annabeth said placidly. The girl rolled her eyes before slinking off, Doc Martens clunking against the ground.

Annabeth leaned against a nearby locker, and took a long sigh. The stupid school tour guide thing that Mom had signed her up for sucked, especially because of that bitch she had been paired up with.

So far, the girl had ignored her and replied to Annabeth's faux-friendly questions with blase remarks like: "Cool," and "Whatever,".

But, as her mother, Alice told her, it would look fantastic on a college application along with French Club, Debate Club, and almost all Honors classes. _Almost all,_ a little voice in the back of her head nagged. Thanks to Annabeth's dyslexia, she was in "dumb" people English, or otherwise known as non-honors English.

It wasn't that she was stupid. Annabeth knew she was smart-she had gotten all A's in almost every subject, and was fantastic at trivia. But every grammar or spelling quiz when she saw a familliar red C or B in the top of the paper, she felt a familliar sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Before, her mom had been disappointed, but never cared as much. But when high school started, she had started yelling whenever her grades were not a perfect A plus. She left out out college brochures on the wooden coffee table, and forced Annabeth to flip through hundreds of stacks of flash cards. Annabeth would go to bed every night exhausted and stressed, her head a flurry of vocabulary words and Alice's frequent yells of "Jesus, Annabeth, do you even care?"

"There's my favorite little princess!"

Annabeth smiled as she saw Thalia besides her, dressed in her usual black-on-black attire. Her dark hair was in a high ponytail, and was streaked with electric green. She handed Annabeth a Starbucks cup.

"You're a lifesaver," Annabeth said before gulping down the coffee. It burned the back of her throat, but she swallowed the last of it nevertheless. Thalia shrugged. "No prob, dude. Besides, I know you get like a zombie without your caffeine."

Some people didn't get why Annabeth and Thalia were best friends. Thalia was cynical, goth, and had a slightly unhealthy obsession with Sally Hansen skull-printed nail strips. Annabeth was the slightly nerdy, Stanford bound "princess" who loved Doctor Who and long games of Monopoly. But somehow, they clicked.

"Hey Thalia, nice outfit. Where's the funeral?" A nasal voice spat. A group of brunettes in matching denim miniskirts strutted by, sneering. Thalia raised her middle finger daintly and waved. "Hey clones, where's the tea party?" The nasal one bit her lip and stomped away, and Annabeth chuckled into her coffee.

"What do you have first period?" Thalia asked, taking a swig. "Um, English," Annabeth said, heart sinking. Thalia frowned. "Shit, I have History. I'll see you at lunch though, right?"

Annabeth swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. "Kay, bye!" she waved and started down the hall when someone bumped her and her notebooks splattered to the ground. "Crap," she muttered and started to gather her books. She sent an icy glare at the unknown person.

A fantastic start to her day.

"Fuckshitcrapfuck!"

Percy swatted Grover on his beanie-capped head. "Pottymouth!" he smirked. Grover narrowed his eyes as she shoved the remainder of his rainbow Pop Tart into his stubbly mouth. "Listen, It's the first day, I can't be late on the first day!" Grover explained with his mouth full.

Percy wrinkled his nose at his best friend. "Ewww. Come on, let's go. We are way over the line for fashionably late." The two grabbed their backpacks and raced out the door and over to Grover's dark blue sedan. Grover switched on the radio, and Justin Timberlake's high pitched voice filled the car.

Percy shook his head slowly as Grover turned out of the driveway. "Dude," he said slowly. Grover held up his hand and started driving down the street. Percy snickered to himself and leaned against the window. The air outside smelled salty, like the sea.

For some weird reason, Percy loved the it was due to the fact that his dad was a fisherman, but nevertheless, he always felt oddly calm and peaceful. This morning, the marina was especially busy. A bunch of forty-something dudes in rain boots all were prepping the boats and gulping down tall cups of coffee.

They screeched up to the school. A few slackers and emo kids hung out by the front, smoking and lazily listening to screeching rock. Grover kicked open the door and ran furiously to the front, Percy right behind him. They slid into the office, breathing hard.

"Grover Underwood and Percy Jackson," Grover took in a deep breath. The receptionist gave them a look. She handed them both a tan file with the Orange County Prep stamp on it. "This has your schedule, locker number and combination, and a map of the school." Percy smiled gratefully, snatched the file, and darted down the hall.

"What you got, Perce?"

"Algebra," Percy shouted and darted down the hall. Grover did a quick salute and ran off in the other direction.

By the time he reached the classroom, he was 15 minutes late. He knocked on the door and walked in. The teacher stopped mid-sentence and narrowed her eyes.

"Late."

"Yeah, sorry. Better late than absent though, right?" Percy said. The teacher, a dowdy woman in a gray blouse, stared at him stonily.

"Take a seat, Mr. Jackson." He sighed and dumped his bag down onto a chair next to a brown-haired girl in a tight pink camisole and a barely there miniskirt.

"Hey, Anika," He leaned over to her. Anika was one of the most popular girl in school-hot, rich, and had a great ass. She wasn't really Percy's type, but he figured that he should at least start off the year well.

Anika whipped around, lip curled, and gave Percy a quick-once over. Then, her lip relaxed into a seductive smile. "Well, well, well, someone looks different," she purred. "Much, much better, I must say." she ran her hands over his wrist. Percy forced on an uncomfortable smile.

"Such a dramatic entrance."

"Eh, I've done better," he replied. Anika giggled and placed her hand over Percy's. It was warm, and little devil horns were painted on her thumb nails. "I missed you, Perce. You were always so cute," She whispered into his ear. Percy had a faint memory from freshman year when Anika frequently called him "Kelp Balls", referring to his dead fisherman father. He shook off the memory and tried not to blush.

A sharp coughing noise interrupted them. "Refrain from osculating in class, Mr. Jackson and Mrs. Rosen." The teacher snapped.

"It's hardly my fault, Mrs. Beaumont, I don't know was oculating means!" Anika said innocently. "I'm sure that Annabeth must know, though. She really has no life, so she has plenty of time to study!" The class giggled. Percy's stomach twisted. He hated when people got bullied.

"It means to kiss," a voice snarked. "Although I'm surprised you don't know what it means. You've certainly done a lot of it with the varsity football team."

Percy laughed, then looked around for the voice. It belonged to a blond girl with flashing gray eyes, a smirk on her lips. A memory flashed through his brain. He and a little blond girl were playing in a sandbox with a sea-green Tonka truck. A smear of apple juice was smudged on his cheek. He widened his eyes.

Was that Annabeth Chase? He hadn't spoken to her since middle school. They had been best friends when they were little-having hundreds of sleepovers where they would watch marathons of Ben Ten and Scooby Doo, and rode their bikes furiously down the driveway. But when middle school started, and puberty hit, Percy started to feel awkward around her. He blushed whenever she was around, and his palms grew sweaty when he talked to her in the classroom. He started to not return calls and IM's, and started hanging out with boys at school. By the time 8th grade started, he had completely forgot about her. Only sometimes in the hallways he would meet her eye and she would turn away.

The bell rang, and everyone started to get up. Annabeth quickly gathered up her books. Percy took a step towards her, but she rushed out the door before Percy could saw anything.


	2. Chapter 2

"All I'm saying is that the Black Veil Brides SO rock more than One Direction," Thalia said calmly as she reapplied a thick coat for black lip stick. Katie stuck her lower lip out. "Whatever. Harry Style's dimples are adorable anyway." It was lunchtime and Annabeth was at her usual table with Thalia, Katie, Rachel and Silena.

"So I heard you had a little snark fest with Anika during Algebra," Silena said. Thalia's electric blue eyes widened. "How do you know about that?" Annabeth turned to Silena. Silena replied with a mysterious smile. "I have my ways." Rachel shoved her fork into a plate of macaroni. "I'm so sick of that bitch."

Anika had stolen Rachel's boyfriend a few years ago at the Homecoming Dance, and ever since she bitterly hated her. "Me too. We should steal all of her Jimmy Choos and throw them in the garbage." Katie spat.

Suddenly, the sound of high-heeled booties filled the cafeteria. Annabeth spun around and saw Anika and her 3 cronies marching. "Speak of the devil," Rachel mumbled. Two blond girls in ill-fitting minidresses hopefully lingered next to them, but with a quick, cold look they scurried off. "Are they heading to us?" Katie murmurred. Annabeth shrugged. To be fully honest, she wasn't scared of Anika. Behind that mask of makeup, booties and straightened hair, she was nothing but a cowardly bully.

Anika stopped at Annabeth's table, the strong scent of Daisy perfume filling the air. "Oh look, it's the walking cliches," Thalia deadpanned, and Annabeth stifled a laugh. Anika scowled. "Shut the hell up, emo freak." One of her cronies snapped. Anika leaned over Annabeth. "It wasn't so nice what you did today in English, Annabeth."

"I'm so sorry, Anika! Did I hurt your feelings?" Annabeth said sarcastically, making a pouty face. "Um, yah, you did." One of cronies growled, obviously not catching the sarcasm. Anika flipped her straightened hair over and shoulder. "So, anyway, don't play with water."

"Um, it's 'Don't play with fire,'. Not water." Annabeth said dryly. Thalia cracked up. Anika smiled cruelly, ignoring the laughter. Suddenly, freezing cold water pored down Annabeth's back. She whipped around and saw a dark haired girl sneering at her. Without any hesitation, she splashed her bottle of water right in Annabeth's face.

The entire cafeteria erupted into laughter. Anika stood up, wiping her manicured hands on her shirt and sent a satisfied look at Thalia, who looked ready to jump out of her seat and kill Anika. "So, yeah, Annabeth, don't play with water." Anika turned to leave. "Or you'll get wet!" With that, she turned sharply on her heel and stalked off.

With all the dignity she had left, Annabeth wiped water from her cheeks and ran to the bathroom.

Annabeth let out a shuddery sigh, refusing to cry. Her white blouse and jeans were soaked. Mascara ran down her cheeks, and her blond hair stuck to her cheeks. She looked like absolute crap. Total shit.

The door burst open, and Annabeth braced herself, expecting it to be Anika. Thankfully, it was Thalia. She had a worried expression on her face. "Hey." She gave Annabeth a tight hug, not complaining about Annabeth's soggy clothes. She handed Annabeth a black band shirt that said The Rabid Rainbows in big block letters and a pair of black leggings. Annabeth smiled gratefully at her friend.

"Everything okay?" Thalia asked as Annabeth slipped into a bathroom stall. Annabeth tugged on the top. "Not really." she sniffled. 'For what it's worth, Anika broke a heel on her way to the bathroom and everyone could see her thong." Thalia added hopefully. Annabeth cracked up despite herself as she pulled on the leggings.

"And who cares about that bitch? In a two years you'll be at NYU far away from that snob. This is only temporary, babe." Annabeth pushed open the doors of the stall and started to wring out her hair. She felt and looked a lot better, she had to admit, although black-on-black wasn't really her thing.

Silena and Katie rushed in, holding a hairbrush and a pink makeup kit. Silena threw her arms around Annabeth and pulled her close. She handed her the makeup kit. "The ever-perfect Annabeth Chase can't go without looking perfect!" Silena said warmly. Katie handed her the brush. "Yeah, you're hair is a bird's nest." she said jokingly.

Annabeth's insides warmed, even though her outsides were still cold.


End file.
